Why so many young people feel unhappy these days

With each passing year, more adults and teenagers feel unhappy and depressed. According to surveys carried out in recent years, this is a trend that has become increasingly alarming. According to the observed numbers, there has been a drastic increase in mood disorders and psychological stress in adolescents and young adults.

O awesome.club decided to look more closely at these numbers to think of different ways to help the new generations. And today’s spoiler is positive: this is possible.

JM Twenge is a psychologist in the Department of Psychology at San Diego State University (USA) who works with adolescents and young adults. Along with a few colleagues, she carefully studied data from the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health and uncovered some rather sobering facts.

There was a 52% increase in cases of mood disorders, with emphasis on depressive thoughts and suicidal behavior among adolescents (12 to 17 years old).

The good news is that people over the age of 26 rarely exhibit this type of behavior, according to data from the same survey.

JM Twenge and his colleagues argue that there are 2 factors associated with this situation.

The rise of electronic communication.

A decrease in sleep duration.

Social media, its messaging tools and other factors of the digital world affect people in a stronger way than we can imagine. It seems that the intensity of real (face-to-face) communication that children have nowadays has reached a minimum level — children spend most of their time either having conversations online or watching videos on YouTube. Viewed content can also be a cause of mood disorders and feelings of unhappiness.

The time we spend online seems to fly by and when we look at the clock we realize that it’s past bedtime. This causes, in the case of teenagers, the sleep cycle to be completely deregulated, because they always think they are missing out on some important event. The problem is that sleeping well is essential for the body to recharge its energies. A good night’s sleep is a sign of physical and mental energy and well-being.

The enormous access to technology forces parents to impose a series of norms on Internet time and social networks for a teenager. But preventing a young person from going online is very difficult, especially when the children are not at home. An alternative is SmartWatch: you can always see whether the child is on the Internet or not.

Monitoring our children’s activities and the time they spend on the Internet can be a way to find a better balance in the family’s mental health. Fortunately, most cell phones today have options that allow you to limit children’s access to applications and social networks, in addition to allowing you to monitor content and generally control online activities. There are many apps that help parents do this.

It is also important for parents to find time for their children, showing support and empathy when needed. But is it that children don’t spend more time online because they need to fill the void left by the lack of attention they receive from their parents? Perhaps a good way forward is to reduce the use of technology by parents themselves, paving the way for their children to do the same.

Do you think that modern technology brings people more advantages or disadvantages? Share your opinion in the comments.